A Gentleman in Moscow
A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW starts in 1922. Count Alexander Rostov has returned to Russia just as the Civil War has ended. He is immediately confronted with a Bolshevik court who decides he isn't sufficiently repentant about his aristocratic background ; they condemn him to house arrest in an attic at The Metropol hotel where he has been living in a ritzy apartment.
Rather than try to sneak out of the country, the Count becomes a head waiter at a fancy restaurant in the hotel where he becomes a member of the triumvirate, the maitre d', the chef and the head waiter. He's reading the paper one morning when he's confronted by a whirlwind of a nine-year old, Nina Kulikova. She becomes his bosom buddy. Nina is a spy; she knows the hotel like the back of her hand; she teaches the Count about all the hidden nooks and crannies; they even spy on a meeting of a Bolshevik planning session.
Years pass and Nina becomes a member of the Komsomol, a Communist youth group. She eventually marries one of them, but he's sent to a gulag and she goes to join him, leaving her daughter Sofia with the Count, the only person she trust.s Sofia is a prodigy on the piano; she also thinks the Count is her father, and he calls her daughter.
Something the reader should know is that Russian aristocrats were known as the “former people” under the Bolsheviks. The worst waiter the Count has ever employed is now his boss, and the guy gets even every chance he gets. When that begins to involve Sofia, the Count first thinks about getting her out of Russia.
You'll be wondering what happened to Nina. She was supposed to pick Sofia up in a few months, but she never showed up. Sofia becomes a virtuoso on the piano; she has a concert in Paris at the age of nineteen. Still no Nina. There's a bit of foreshadowing that implies the Count never sees Nina again, but that's not necessarily so; we're thinking the Count will go to Paris to see his “daughter” perform, but that's not where he goes. That's the only complaint I have about the book. He's such a great guy; you want to see him happy and out of Bolshevik Russia with his “daughter” but because of the ambiguous ending, we're not sure what happened.
Rather than try to sneak out of the country, the Count becomes a head waiter at a fancy restaurant in the hotel where he becomes a member of the triumvirate, the maitre d', the chef and the head waiter. He's reading the paper one morning when he's confronted by a whirlwind of a nine-year old, Nina Kulikova. She becomes his bosom buddy. Nina is a spy; she knows the hotel like the back of her hand; she teaches the Count about all the hidden nooks and crannies; they even spy on a meeting of a Bolshevik planning session.
Years pass and Nina becomes a member of the Komsomol, a Communist youth group. She eventually marries one of them, but he's sent to a gulag and she goes to join him, leaving her daughter Sofia with the Count, the only person she trust.s Sofia is a prodigy on the piano; she also thinks the Count is her father, and he calls her daughter.
Something the reader should know is that Russian aristocrats were known as the “former people” under the Bolsheviks. The worst waiter the Count has ever employed is now his boss, and the guy gets even every chance he gets. When that begins to involve Sofia, the Count first thinks about getting her out of Russia.
You'll be wondering what happened to Nina. She was supposed to pick Sofia up in a few months, but she never showed up. Sofia becomes a virtuoso on the piano; she has a concert in Paris at the age of nineteen. Still no Nina. There's a bit of foreshadowing that implies the Count never sees Nina again, but that's not necessarily so; we're thinking the Count will go to Paris to see his “daughter” perform, but that's not where he goes. That's the only complaint I have about the book. He's such a great guy; you want to see him happy and out of Bolshevik Russia with his “daughter” but because of the ambiguous ending, we're not sure what happened.
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